Caged
by Two Cents
Summary: A very young Misao gets angry at the members of the Oniwabanshuu for forbidding her to see her Ojiisan. Because of this, she cages them in her pretend zoo. It’s a bit more than that actually…


Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is not mine. Don't sue…you'll be wasting your time.  
  
A/N: I wrote this little fic exactly 2 and a half years ago (If my memory has not failed me). I'm longer over Rurouni Kenshin (yes, it's sacrilegious you say) and my die-hard Aoshi/Misao tendencies have kind of faded into the background. I still love them, but I don't obsess over them like I used to. (One good example being that I haven't touched a RK A/M fic in over a year) Sad but true…  
  
Reviews will be much appreciated, flames will just be laughed at and or agreed with before being shot to death. Oh joy.  
  
  
  
  
  
1 Caged  
  
  
  
"AOSHI-NII-SANNNN!" There was a piercing shriek and Aoshi winced almost imperceptibly when he noticed how that one single distraction had made him unfocused enough to miss the target's abdomen by just so, a miss that would have turned a lethal strike into a non-fatal albeit painful slash. Cursing softly under his breath, he paused in the act of sheathing his kodaichi, weighing the consequences of interrupting his practise in order to see what was troubling Misao. There was another loud shriek, and Aoshi had already sheathed his kodaichi and had started walking towards the direction of the sound even before he knew what he was doing. Sighing softly, he walked out of the training hall before quickly making his way to the source of that scream. It wasn't difficult really, all he had to do was to follow the loud sounds of disagreement---one furiously indignant and the other slightly amused.  
  
Okon's voice, filled with amused tolerance and slight annoyance came first. "Really! Misao! Why should I lie to you?"  
  
Misao's voice on the other hand was laced with furious indignation. "You're lying! Aoshi-niisan would have never let you do that! I don't believe you!"  
  
Aoshi gave the smallest of chuckles and stepped into the courtyard where both Okon and Misao were once again engaged in a heated debate. ('The Clash of the Titans' was how Okina put it.) "I wouldn't have let you do what?" He asked, eying the two of them with just a hint of a amusement in his cold eyes.  
  
Misao turned and gave a loud cry of delight intermingled with a good deal of indignation. "Aoshi-niisan!" Misao wailed, throwing herself at his chest with all her might.  
  
Catching her easily, he bent and set her down on her feet carefully. "What is wrong now, Misao?" He asked gently, with just the faintest touch of amusement in his voice.  
  
She glanced up at him, her lips pursed into an adorable pout. A breathless tumble of words came out as she gazed pleadingly up at his face for reassurance. "You wouldn't have let Shikijou run around the Aoiya with me on his shoulders to stop me from screaming, would you?" She threw a sulky glare at Okon, who was by now openly laughing. "And anyway, I did not scream!" She emphasized her last statement by furiously banging her tiny fist on Aoshi's chest.  
  
"Round and round the Aoiya, he used to run." Aoshi recalled, smiling faintly down at her. "I remember now."  
  
Misao eyes widened in incredulity. "What if I had fallen off?" cried Misao, outraged by the entire notion.  
  
"He carried you very carefully, Misao. And he didn't run all that fast." He remarked mildly. "And yes, you did scream, Misao." He said wryly, even as she drew breath to ask.  
  
"All the time, too." Okon interjected.  
  
Misao pulled a horrible face at Okon and stuck out her tongue. "That's not true and I don't believe it! You must have forced Aoshi-niisan to lie about that." She huffed, and pulled another nasty face at Okon.  
  
"Really, Misao. It all happened a long time ago." Aoshi said as cajolingly as he could.  
  
"I don't care." Misao said stubbornly. "I'm going to put her in my zoo."  
  
"Zoo?" Okon raised her eyebrow in puzzlement.  
  
"Zoo!" Misao repeated. "And it'd serve you right too!" With a last final scowl at Okon, she ran into the Aoiya, her long, black braid whipping behind her.  
  
"That girl…" Omasu sighed, as she rolled her eyes heavenward.  
  
Aoshi merely shrugged, five years of experience had taught him that Misao's temper tantrums were nothing serious. Most of the time at least. Noticing that Okon had a large bundle of medical supplies in her hands, he realized that she had been on her way to see the Okashira. "How is the Okashira?" He asked calmly, striving to keep his voice carefully neutral.  
  
Okon remained silent for a while. With a soft sigh, she started walking slowly in the direction of the Okashira's bedroom. Aoshi followed her, adjusting his long strides to match her much shorter ones. "A little weaker each day." She finally said.  
  
"The Okashira is a strong man." Aoshi said tonelessly.  
  
"But not immortal." Okon snapped back with uncharacteristic sharpness. "The doctor thinks that it won't be long before…." She trailed off and stopped walking. She glanced up at the tall, impassive man beside her, trying to read the strange expression is his hard blue eyes. "Oh Aoshi, what if something happens to him? What will happen to the Oniwabanshuu?"  
  
Aoshi raised his eyes to the blue, cloudless sky. The sight of all that empty space somehow calmed his turbulent feelings enormously. Unnoticed by Okon, Aoshi clenched his fists. "Perhaps Okina will step out as the new Okashira. Or you may just be worrying needlessly."  
  
The silence that followed was tangibly painful. "Perhaps." Okon said moodily at last, and began walking again in the direction of the Okashira's room.  
  
  
  
Back in her room, Misao was hard at work. "Baka Okon." She muttered darkly, over and over again as she carefully converted a small box into her new zoo cage. Using on of her own kunai, she carefully made a small window in the box, and pasted a few strips of paper to serve as bars. When the cage was finally to her satisfaction, she took a small brush and a ink slab (both casually stolen from Okina's study) and quickly made painted a rough effigy of Okon on a small piece of paper. This she then stuffed unceremoniously into the 'cage' that was to be Okon's new home. Underneath the window, she carefully inked the words "Screaming Pig" in large, bold, albeit slightly lopsided characters.  
  
"Ha!" She smiled viciously at the cage. "Make fun of me now!" She crowed. She carefully lifted the cage and carried it down the stairs, before setting it down in the middle of the dining room floor where everyone was sure to notice it. She then fetched a few of her dolls from her room and sat them outside the cage so that they could see Okon, the Screaming Pig in her brand new zoo.  
  
  
  
Dinner time in the Aoiya was usually a boisterous affair, but today it was unusually quiet. Okon was so distracted that she didn't even notice Misao's dark glances towards the zoo that had been placed conspicuously in the middle of the floor. In fact, it wasn't just Okon alone who was distracted, everyone seemed to be rather disturbed. Even the normally rowdier Oniwabanshuu members like Shikijou and Okina were picking quietly at their food. Everyone was acting strangely, everyone that is, save Aoshi of course. Which really wasn't a good indication, Misao decided finally, since he would probably still behave like a statue even if it was the end of the world.  
  
After a while, she got so tired of staring first at the zoo, then at Okon, that she gave it up entirely. Wondering why it was so quiet at the table, she started tapping her chopsticks against her bowl, knowing that Okina would sooner of later be so annoyed by the noise, that he would finally take notice of her. But strangely enough, he didn't even seem to notice what he had previously termed 'that-god-awful-noise'. She finally got so fed up of this new experience of a noiseless dinner that she finally exclaimed exasperatedly, "What's wrong with all of you? Why are you all so quiet?"  
  
There was a faint start from all of them, and for a few seconds, the members of the Oniwabanshuu stared at her in mute surprise. Aoshi raised his head quickly and gave them a quick look of warning.  
  
"Nothing's wrong, Misao-chan." Okina said finally, smiling a little. "Can't we all be quiet for a change?"  
  
Taking the cue from Okina, the other members of the Oniwanshuu began to relax. "There's nothing wrong, Misao-chan. We're all just tired from our training." Omasu said, forcibly smiling at the little girl.  
  
Misao's eyebrows furrowed in suspicion. Omasu saw this and quickly smoothed out her features. "Nothing's wrong, Misao-chan. Nothing at all."  
  
In all her excitement to make Okon notice the zoo, Misao had not realized that there had been one missing face at the table. "Where's Ojiisan?" She demanded abruptly.  
  
Everyone at the table tensed. "He's too tired to have dinner." Shikijou said quickly.  
  
"Ojjisan's never too tired to have dinner." Misao said empathically, eyeing him with faint distrust. "Is there-"  
  
"Well, your Ojiisan's been feeling a unwell ever since he returned from the mission." Okina cut in smoothly.  
  
"Oh." was all Misao said, before she went back to picking at her rice. "So can I see him?" She asked, as casually as she could.  
  
He hesitated for a moment. "I don't think that'll be a good idea, Misao- chan." He said finally, uneasily eyeing the now scowling girl.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
Okina gave everyone a warning glance, and at the unspoken signal, everyone wordlessly rose and left the table, leaving Okina, Aoshi and Misao alone at the table. "Well, I'm done." Okina said almost too casually as he deliberately turned his face away from the still scowling girl. "How about you, Aoshi?"  
  
"I'm done too. How about you, Misao?" He said quietly, as he rose.  
  
Misao stared at him for a while, as if still deciding whether to remain angry at Okina or pleased that her beloved Aoshi-niisan had noticed her at last. She tried unsuccessfully to simultaneously smile at Aoshi and frown at Okina. "I'm done too!" She declared, first beaming up at Aoshi, then pulling a face at Okina.  
  
Over her head, Okina shot Aoshi another long look; Aoshi nodded slightly. "I'll see you tomorrow, Misao." Aoshi said, looking down at her.  
  
"Where are you going?" She said at once. "Can I come?"  
  
"I have something to do." He said vaguely. "I'll be up until very late."  
  
Misao mulled over what he had said, trying to find an excuse to follow him. When she could find none, she pouted up at him. "Oyasumi." She said sulkily at last.  
  
"Oyasumi." He answered absentmindedly, before leaving in the direction of the Okashira's room.  
  
Hoping to distract her, Okina gave her hand a gentle tug and began walking in the direction of her zoo. "Misao-chan, why have you put poor Okon in a prison?"  
  
"It's not a prison, it's a zoo." Misao explained immediately, pleased that someone had noticed her creation at last.  
  
"It's just as bad."  
  
"No it isn't." Misao replied, looking very mutinous.  
  
"It was a case of offended dignity." Okon chuckled, reappearing again to clear the dishes on the table.  
  
"What did she do?" Okina asked, smiling slightly.  
  
"Said I screamed and that I behaved like a brat."  
  
"Which was only the truth." Okon protested.  
  
"It's not!" Misao insisted obstinately, her lower lip protruding petulantly. "I didn't scream, did I?" She looked up at Okina for confirmation.  
  
"Never. You were the soul of discretion." He said solemnly.  
  
"Did Okon scream?"  
  
"All the time."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Aa." Okina nodded gravely. "All the time."  
  
Okon gave a little choke and hastily disappeared into the kitchen again, muffling her laughter with her sleeve.  
  
Misao was immensely pleased and she beamed up at Okina. "I knew it." She said smugly as she leaned against him in companionable silence as they both admired her zoo's one and only attraction. Okina looked down at her. "You won't put poor old Okina in, for offending your dignity would you?"  
  
"Maybe." She giggled at his slightly offended expression. "But I won't ever put Aoshi-niisan and Ojjisan in."  
  
Okina looked faintly injured. "That's not fair."  
  
"I know." She said, grinning widely up at him, before returning to her pleased scrutiny of her captive.  
  
  
  
Within the next few days, almost everyone, save the Okashira, Aoshi and Beshimi, had been placed in Misao's rapidly expanding zoo. The Okashira and Aoshi had not been put in for obvious reasons. Beshimi was away on a mission, and his absence hadn't given him an opportunity to suitably offend Misao enough to warrant his placement in her zoo.  
  
"This is getting ridiculous." Omasu muttered darkly to Okon, as she walked passed Misao's zoo on her way to the training hall.  
  
"You too?" Okon said rather unsympathetically, noticing the newest addition to the seven cages lined up against the wall of the dining room. "Omasu the Sneaking Pig." She read, "Where on earth did she find such names?" Okon wondered out loud as she stared down at the new cage which had been placed rather prominently next to 'Okina the Perverted Pig.'  
  
"At least you all did something to annoy her." Omasu groused, taking no notice of Okon as she eyed her 'cage' grumpily. "I did nothing at all. I just got put in there for no reason. She could have at least made me look prettier." Omasu grumbled, as she stared in annoyance at her paper and ink doppelganger.  
  
"You told Aoshi-niisan that I was naughty yesterday." said a voice from the stairs. You know you did!" A scowling Misao appeared at the doorway of the room. "I heard you myself!"  
  
"Misao," Omasu began patiently, "you dyed Okina's beard pink when he was sleeping, not only that, you put ants in poor Shiro's trousers! And do I have to further remind you that you put GRASS in Kuro's SOUP and poured GLUE into my RICE?"  
  
An expression of remorse and regret failed entirely to cross Misao's face. "Well, you didn't have to tell him!" Misao said defiantly, glaring up at Omasu.  
  
Omasu threw up her hands in frustration. "I give up." She cried to no one in particular. "I give up!"  
  
"There, there, Omasu." Okon said sympathetically. "We all have these moments with her. There's just no use talking sense to her at times." Okon said airily as she continued on her way to the training hall, dragging Omasu behind her.  
  
For that insult, Misao spent the remaining day trying to find the darkest, deepest and dustiest corner of the room to stuff Okon's cage into. When she couldn't find one, she sat on Okon's cage for a good half an hour stubbornly refusing to get up, not even when Aoshi stopped to ask what she was doing.  
  
  
  
The zoo proved a friendly distraction to Misao, who was essentially, very confused as to why everyone was going about their duties with such strange looks on their faces. Not only did they look extremely grave, they were incredibly edgy and jumped at the slightest noises.  
  
"Stop making so much noise" was something that they said all the time, even if she wasn't doing anything particularly noisy.  
  
"Why not?" She had asked Omasu grumpily, when she had been scolded for the umpteenth time for racing through the halls of the Aoiya. "You never complained before."  
  
Omasu had froze, her face filled with consternation. "Your Ojiisan needs to rest." She had said awkwardly, after a painfully long moment of silence had passed.  
  
"That's what you keep saying!" Misao cried, thoroughly fed up with this overused excuse. Exasperated, she ran off before she could be scolded further, much to Omasu's relief.  
  
  
  
It wasn't that Misao was not concerned over how her Ojiisan was doing, she was in fact extremely worried. She had demanded many times to be allowed to see him and she didn't understand why everyone seemed to be doing their utmost to keep her away from him. In fact every time she tried to bring up the matter, the other members of the Oniwabanshuu would send her off on an errand or change the subject hastily, leaving her increasingly annoyed and bewildered. She had even tried to throw a temper tantrum, but it was of no use. She just couldn't get them to budge. For that, Misao had single- handedly caged the entire lot of them over a period of two days. Even Hannya, who was her favourite person after her Ojiisan and Aoshi-niisan, was not spared the indignation of being labelled "Masked Pig" and being stared at by the unseeing eyes of her cloth  
  
dolls---the zoo's perpetual and only visitors.  
  
"Misao-chan…you're being very childish, you know." He had said exasperatedly, as he eyed her construction of her newest cage warily.  
  
She had tried to bargain with him. "I'd take you out," She wheedled, fluttering her eyelashes for further effect. "but only if you let me see Ojiisan."  
  
"No." He had answered very firmly, bracing himself for what was coming next. The wide, blue-eyed gaze of beguiling insistence, followed swiftly by, no…yes…...ARGGH…the Misao patented pout. Her lower lip sticking out just so, she stared up at him mutely, her big blue eyes shimmering with mostly feigned sincerity.  
  
"No…" Hannya replied with a greater deal of difficultly, averting his eyes away from her small face. "No," he said again, shaking his head very firmly.  
  
So that was that, and Misao tore out of her room with her new cage and her newest captive.  
  
After a while, the younger members of the Oniwabanshuu became so fed up with her, that they all chipped in and brought her a set of wooden toy animals.  
  
"What are they for?" She had asked ungraciously, staring down at her new gifts.  
  
"To put into the cages instead of us." They had replied.  
  
Misao received this revelation in silence. When they were not looking, she promptly brought the animals up to her room, where she set them lose while the members of the Oniwabanshuu continued to languish miserably in their cages.  
  
  
  
"How much longer?" Aoshi asked Okina quietly.  
  
"It won't be long now." He replied just as gravely.  
  
"Should we bring Misao to see him?"  
  
"It is against my better judgement, but the Okashira has been asking to see her for quite some time."  
  
"First her parents, now this…are you sure she will be able to take it?"  
  
Okina was silent for a long while. "Misao's a strong girl." He said with much difficulty. "And we can hope, can't we?"  
  
But the day never came, for the Okashira passed away in the middle of the night.  
  
  
  
The next day dawned clear and sunny, and Misao all but bounded energetically out of her room. Misao, whose enthusiasm was mostly measured in decibels, shouted out a loud 'Ohayou minna-san!' to no one in particular. Running down the stairs on swift feet, she closed her eyes briefly as she started to hum a simple melody.  
  
Which was precisely the reason why she didn't see Okina at the bottom of the stairs until he carefully manoeuvred her body to prevent her from crashing into him. Misao opened her eyes and gave him one her best bear hugs around the waist. "Ohayou Okina! It's a beautiful day, ne?" She said happily. She was in such a good mood, that she was even considering releasing the Oniwabanshuu members, for a little while at any rate.  
  
"Ohayou Misao-chan." He greeted her gravely, disentangling her arms around his waist.  
  
Misao, reading the sombre expression on his face, became alarmed. This was a side to Okina that she hardly ever saw. "What's wrong, Okina." It was a statement, not a question.  
  
Gazing into her clear and slightly anxious blue eyes, Okina sighed inwardly. /Gods, how was he going to tell her?/ "Misao," he said awkwardly. "I'm afraid your Ojiisan is…no longer around." The minute the words his mouth, Okina felt like giving himself a mental kick. A hard one.  
  
She wrinkled her brow in puzzlement, then pouted. "Has he gone away on another mission?"  
  
"No, Misao-chan." Okina shook his head and rested his hand on her shoulder. "I'm afraid, your Ojiisan passed away last night. I'm so sorry, Misao- chan."  
  
There was a sharp gasp, but it wasn't from Misao. Some of the Oniwabanshuu members who had been milling nearby had heard the news. Soft murmurings soon followed and some of the female Oniwabanshuu members began to cry very softly.  
  
Misao shrugged her shoulder free of Okina's hand and waited until the room fell silent, before announcing cheerfully, "That's not true, and I don't believe it."  
  
No amount of explanations had been able to convince her and after a while, they decided to leave her alone. "Where's Aoshi-niisan?" She asked Hannya just before he left the room.  
  
He squatted down until his head was at the same height as her. "No more 'nii-san' Misao-chan. He's the new Okashira now." He said gently. "Weren't you listening to Okina just now?"  
  
She glared up at him very coldly. "I don't think you all are being very funny." She said very stiffly, before deliberately turning her back on Hannya. Hannya sighed and walked out of the room, leaving Misao alone in the room.  
  
  
  
The former Okashira was given a splendid funeral, but throughout it all, Misao remained adamant that he was still alive, and nothing the rest of the Oniwabanshuu said, could convince Misao that her Ojiisan was dead. "He's only sleeping." She stated fiercely, as if daring anyone to disagree with her. Okina warned the others to stop bothering her and leave her alone.  
  
Three days later, Misao, who up to the point of the funeral, had ignored the subject of the death of her Ojiisan, suddenly marched up to Aoshi---the only person who had not tried to convince her of his death. "Is Ojiisan really dead, Aoshi-niisan?" She demanded.  
  
Aoshi looked at her very gravely, his eyes sad. "I'm afraid so." He said very quietly, ready to catch the girl if she should fall crying into his arms.  
  
But Misao did not cry. Her eyes widened first in horror, then in anger. The play of emotions across her face was frightening to behold in one so young. "I hate him." She said fiercely, her normally sea blue eyes dark with suppressed anger. "I hate him!"  
  
"Misao!" Aoshi called, but she had already run away, her small, light footsteps echoing forlornly on the ground.  
  
  
  
Later on that night, while passing Misao's zoo on his way to his room, Aoshi noticed Misao sitting in front of her zoo, surrounded by many scraps of paper, despite it being several hours past her normal bedtime.  
  
There was also a very noticeable change to her zoo. All the previous prisoners had been released and all that remained in the various cages were pieces of paper. He came over to her on near silent feet and saw that the characters "Ojiisan" had been written on all the strips of paper with angry and careless brushstrokes. Misao's shoulders tensed as he approached her and he knew she had sensed his presence.  
  
"Why, Misao, why?" He asked her simply, sitting down gracefully beside her.  
  
She refused to look at him, and continued stuffing the strips of paper into the various cages. Her only concession of his presence was that she shifted a little to the right in order to make space for him. The minutes dragged by and still Misao ignored him. But Aoshi was patient, and was content to play her game, knowing from experience that she would open up to him once she had gathered her thoughts.  
  
His patience was not wasted; "Because he's dead." She said suddenly, turning something that was sounded suspiciously like a sob into a grunt of apparent anger. "He's dead." She repeated, furious but unable to explain that as far as she was concerned, her Ojiisan---her only kin left, had deserted her and had left her to face the world all alone, without even saying a word of farewell. "He's gone and left me …" She paused as she rubbed her eyes furiously. "and I hate him." But her trembling voice belied her claim as did the tears that were rapidly pooling in her eyes.  
  
Aoshi wordlessly reached around her tiny frame and gathered her close to his chest, as much as to comfort to her, as to stifle the increasingly louder sobs, least it should wake the others up. "It's not fair…" She whispered heatedly against his neck in between her sobs. "It's just not fair."  
  
"No it's not, Misao…." Aoshi agreed softly, stroking her hair in an attempt to sooth the distraught child that he held in his arms.  
  
But there was no stopping her now. With a sudden, loud cry, she flung her short arms around his neck, burying her small face in his chest, pressing her cheek right over his heart. She cried and cried, her small body convulsing with the force of her sobs.  
  
It was near midnight before her sobs lessened before tapering off completely into the little hiccupping sobs that that come when someone is too tired to keep crying, and too distraught to stop. She had stopped crying, and was now resting her forehead against his chest. Thinking she had fallen asleep, Aoshi carefully gathered her in his and was just about to carry her to her room when he felt light pressure at his sleeve.  
  
"Don't, ever, ever leave me, Aoshi-nii-sama." came her drowsy voice, one that was quickly losing the battle against sleep. She was awake, barely awake but awake nonetheless. Her reddened blue eyes, drowsy yet strangely intense, were staring up at him.  
  
He rose and began to walk towards the stairs. Aoshi murmured against her hair, his warm breath on her forehead. "I can't promise that, Misao. We all have to die someday."  
  
She shook her head slowly, her eyelids beginning to fall shut. "I don't mean that. Promise me, Aoshi-sama." She mumbled, nestling her head closer to his chest.  
  
"I can't do that, Misao." They had arrived at the door to Misao's room.  
  
"Why." It was so soft a murmur that Aoshi had to strain to hear it. "If you run away," She mumbled softly. "I'll put you in too."  
  
He slid open the door to her room, and walked towards her futon that was spread neatly on the floor.  
  
"What if I run away before you can do that?" He asked whimsically.  
  
"I won't let you escape me, Aoshi-sama. I'll follow you...no…matter where….you go." She continued; she had obviously not heard him. "You see," There was a quiet pause, "if I… hadn't let Ojiisan… leave…,"  
  
Her voice was barely audible now, and Aoshi had to lean very close to the drowsy girl to hear her words properly. "then…perhaps he wouldn't…have…left me."  
  
Aoshi carefully pried her fingers lose of his sleeve and laid her down very gently on her futon. "Sometimes," Aoshi whispered lowly as he covered the little girl with her woollen blanket, "it's not that easy, Misao."  
  
But all he got in response was the sound of her quiet, even breathing.  
  
"Oyasumi Misao." He mouthed, before turning to walk noiselessly out of her room. Stopping at the door to her room, he rested one hand on the door frame as he stared at the sleeping girl in quite contemplation.  
  
1.1 If only things were that simple…  
  
-fin.  
  
  
  
A/N: In case your wondering, this was inspired by my beloved cousin, who five years ago, created her own zoo, and heartily dumped everyone in her family (extended family included…it's so nice to be remembered like that) in her own 'zoo' for reasons still entirely unknown to us. _ 


End file.
